The elusive RCA Direct Addresss set....

[rca2000]

Back in the early 1980's.......I sought after a number of vintage RCA color tv sets. An RCA2000(ctc47), ANY one of the RCA CTC-5 sets, and an RCA "Direct address" set(CTC-81 or 74). I figured that the DA set would be the EASIEST to find, as it was the newest, and made when color tv was "the norm", from 1975-77. On the other hand...the RCA2000 was a VERY rare, expensive set--made with "cutting edge" circuitry, like electronic tuning and remote, SS high voltage, matrix tube and so on. And the CTC--5 was made when Color tv was still "new and rare", and I was told by a number of people then.."those are all but extinct, you will probably NEVER get one--unless you pay a LOT for one".

Nearly 30 years later...I have TWO RCA 2000 sets... and one CTC-5D--which I did NOT have to pay an exorbitant amount for, was not that far of a drive, which is in fair shape cabinet wise--and which(according to my CR-70),has a LIKE NEW Picture tube!!

Another so called "unlikely find...the RCA CTC-44.. Few claimed to have even seen one, as they were made ONLY for 1971. But nonetheless. I have TWO of them!!

But I STILL do NOT have...nor know WHERE to get an RCA Direct address set!! I ALMOST got one a coupe of years ago from CL--but the ad was "pulled" before I could get it--perhaps I "gave too much away", as the set was a "come and get it" set--and I offered to buy it anyway....maybe they THEN figured out it was NOT just an "old junk tv set".

I also ALMOST got one in 1987, from behind a tv shop. This was a console model, like the CL one, but the tube had been busted. Still...I wanted it. I "waited too long" though to get it--(since I needed help--and could not get it till the next day), and THEN--the DAP package was gone and the modules were physically broken--likely on PURPOSE. And again that year....I ALMOST got a PORTABLE model, the CTC74 with DA, at a TV shop I then worked for. But they were "Afraid to let it go" in case the owner would "come back for it" even though it had been years. Not long after that....I quit that job after not getting paid fairly for some time, and soon after--the shop went out of business--and that tv probably went to a packer--truck...and then the dump.....

SO I wonder....just WHY is the Direct address set SO darn hard to find??? They were made for several years. They were NOT some" super duper set" like the 2000. Nor were they made that long ago. But still I can't get one!! Not on CL.. not on EBAY..not even on HERE!!